chapter Fourty-Four
Don Locatelli
LaSalle
Three months Later…
“I’m so glad you could all join me here,” I say to the individuals, sitting across the table from me, in one of my Jersey warehouses.
This meeting is personal to me. I could have let someone else handle this, but I’ve not gone soft with my title. Everyone needs to know that. Over the last five months, the bullshit, and these small cries for power have begun to annoy me.
Everyone is trying to expose our weaknesses. So far, we haven’t shown them any. They hit, we hit harder. Things had become quiet, after I let Uri and Val loose on a small Irish sector that wanted to make a play for Logan’s shipping operation.
Massacre is not the word to describe the creepy shit Uri and Val unleashed. Those two are starting to scare me, something very hard to do. Honestly, I think what’s really scaring me is watching my wife’s level of comfort with Val.
I’m beginning to see Morte Nera in Tasha. I can’t explain it. When those two are together, the room shifts. If the children are around, forget it. You can see in their eyes that they’re on alert no matter the situation.
It’s in their eyes, when I watch those two together, I see the potential for trouble. Uri feels the same. We’ve grumbled about it a lot lately.
Which is why I’m here. Loretta Jennings is a problem. Tasha and Val have heard too much. They both know Carlton’s mother has been lurking in the shadows.
I’ve been a gentleman about this. I didn’t want to kill the old bitch, so I’ve just taken care of anyone that has entertained her bullshit. Now, I’m bringing this shit to her face. She wants to play with the men, I’ll let her.
“Are you ready to admit your wife had something to do with my brother’s death?” Gerald, Carlton’s younger brother snarls.
“You and your mother have some seriously false information. I brought you both here to finally straighten this out before someone gets hurt,” I shrug.
“You brought us here because that bitch is pregnant. I’ll make sure she and that baby—,” Loretta’s words are cut off by the sound of my gun going off and her son screaming.
“You see that. That’s what would happen if I or my wife ever decided we wanted to harm your family,” I bellow, pointing my gun at Gerald, who is screaming from a gunshot wound in his shoulder. “We’d come to your fucking door and make that shit happen. Don’t ever fucking threaten my wife or my child.”
Loretta sits in her seat shaking, with wide eyes and trembling lips. I don’t give a shit. I’ve lost my patience. This petty bullshit stops. I have real things to focus on.
“I’m going to clear the air for you. My wife had nothing to do with your son’s death. He almost got her killed with his bullshit, but my wife is as lethal as me. You keep trying to send people for her. She’s going to come for you and I’m going to let her.
“You have no idea who you’re fucking with. When she’s done putting a bullet in your head, I’ll finish off the rest of your family, and you will see us coming. Do you understand?”
“You…you just shot my son,” Loretta gasps.
“You’re motherfucking right, I did,” I seethe. “I’m about to do it again if you don’t speak the fuck up and say you understand. You don’t get any more warnings.”
“I—I, yes, we’ll stop. You don’t have to worry about us,” she says, and nervously licks her lips.
“Good,” I nod and smile wolfishly. “Now, I’m going to be kind and stitch your boy up while you tell me who offered you the money and help to pull these little disturbances off.”
Loretta’s head snaps towards me and fear fills her eyes. I snort and lift my gun at her son’s head. I’m not playing here.
“You think I don’t know someone helped you? Let me inform you of something. You should always do your homework before you enter this world.
“I’m the big bad wolf around here. Whoever you’ve been dealing with is my bitch. You don’t know and won’t meet another like me. So, whatever fear you have of them, increase that by ten thousand. That’s how much you need to fear me,” I hiss.
“Mom, just tell this crazy bastard what he wants to know,” Gerald cries out.
“Okay,” she breathes.
I snap my fingers for my bag and get to work on Gerald’s shoulder. Loretta wastes no time spilling it all. I nod at her words and take it all in. I look at Logan a few times, as I try to hold in my anger.
“Is that all?” I ask once Loretta stops talking.
“Yes,” she nods frantically. “I didn’t leave anything out.”
“Good,” I smile. I reach in my pocket and pull out a switchblade. I stab it into the stitches I just finished placing in Gerald’s shoulder, reopening them.
Gerald scream in agony and I put him out of his misery with a bullet to his head. Loretta screams her head off.
“Why,” she shrills.
“You sent men to kill my wife. You’ve been a pain in my fucking ass. My children lost their mother because you sent men that distracted us from saving her. I told you. Research who you’re fucking with before stepping into the belly of the beast.”
“But,” Loretta squawks.
“Val,” I call. Valentina steps out in a black dress and red heels. Her black bag, that I don’t even want to know what’s in, is at her side. A smile on her red lips. “I told you. You would know when we come for you. This is my wife’s best friend. She’s going to step in since my wife is too pregnant to serve your ass herself. Goodnight, Mrs. Jennings.”
I turn and leave Val to the task she and Tasha begged me for. See, I told you. I had to put an end to this. Those two have been plotting. I had no question.